The Impact of Participation on Sustainability: An Analysis of the Malawi Rural Piped Scheme Program

Abstract The Malawi rural piped scheme program exemplified the participatory approach to rural drinking water supply. Today, between three and 26 years after completion, the smallest schemes, and the newest one, are performing well, but about half the schemes are performing poorly, and a third of these are functioning abysmally. Two implementation decisions would have improved performance, namely cash contributions from consumers, and the construction of smaller schemes. The participatory approach sets up community organizations capable of managing very small rural piped gravity schemes, but it does not address the need of larger schemes for support from a competent external agency.